


joy not far from here

by beaureqard



Category: Hunter X Hunter
Genre: Gen, Platonic Relationships, Reunions
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-24
Updated: 2015-12-24
Packaged: 2018-05-08 21:59:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,813
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5514788
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/beaureqard/pseuds/beaureqard
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Gon's been away a long time, but he's coming back.</p>
            </blockquote>





	joy not far from here

**Author's Note:**

  * For [feriowind](https://archiveofourown.org/users/feriowind/gifts).



_New message from Gon  
Tap to read_

It's been years.

**hey Killua!!! youre still in Yorkshin right? Leorio said so anyway I'll be in Yorkshin too in a few months. Do you want to meet up for coffee Killua??**

It's been _years_ of rare texts and rarer phone calls, mostly mutual birthday wishes—once Gon called to ask when Alluka's birthday was, and from then on it was two birthday greetings from him per year—while Gon was off… adventuring, probably. Doing Hunter things with Ging, being a hero, changing the world, learning even more about nen. But now he's coming back—maybe only temporarily, but still—and he wants to… he wants to get together, no questions asked, like everything's exactly as it was. Killua's not sure if it's a relief or an outrage.

"Of course you'll go, onii-chan!" Alluka likes to dispense advice, even when he rolls his eyes at her. To her credit, though, the advice is usually good. "Besides, I know about the bag of trinkets you keep in the back of your closet. This is as good an opportunity as any to give it to him!"

Killua blushes a deep red and refuses to make eye contact. "Al-lu-ka! That bag was _private!_ A-and it's not like… it's just stuff that I thought he'd like, okay? I don't even know—he might not even… like stuff like that, anymore. I don't _know_ anymore, okay?" It really is just trinkets: little hand-carved animal figures, reclaimed metal trees, anything he sees that makes him think of Gon. It's not like he has any shortage of money, even cut off from the Zoldyck fortune; Killua _is_ still a Hunter, after all, licensed and everything.

Alluka doesn't let up, because Alluka is unstoppable. "You're _going_ to coffee with him, even if you don't know it yet. Gon's like your best friend! Even if it's been a long time since you've actually seen him." She reminds him of—of Gon, actually, sometimes. Those two are people without limits. People you can only ever try to keep up with, can't really _understand._ People you can love, but also…

He shakes off the thought, just nods. Alluka would have gotten her way in the end because she really always does, so he might as well save himself the trouble of disagreeing with her. "Yeah, yeah, all right. You can get off my back, already." He knows she won't take him seriously—true to form, she giggles and chucks the nearest pillow at him.

"Great! Need any café recommendations?" She _does_ go out for coffee more often than Killua does. Alluka's practically a social butterfly, while he's something more of a… well, his friends would probably all prefer to go bar-hopping, or something, and Killua doesn't really see the point. He could drink every one of them under the table and not even feel buzzed—alcohol's a poison, and he's still got an iron liver. But coffee's sweeter anyway, so he can't complain.

"Yeah, all right. I—I suppose… I should text back and say yes, right?" He doesn't know why it's a question, or why he's suddenly nervous about it. It's just… it's been a long time, that's all.

"You're gosh darn right you have to, onii-chan! Gon won't know to come if you can't tell him!" Alluka grins so widely that it _has_ to hurt, and flounces over to pick her phone up off the table. At least she's happy about all this. Not that Killua _isn't_ happy, but—well—what if—he doesn't want to think about the what ifs. Alluka's already busy hitting up all her friends for café recommendations, so she can't comment when he slips into his room and shuts the door. She _hopefully_ can't hear it when he leans into the door and slides down it, clutching his phone in his hand like he's scared it'll just disappear.

**Yeah id really love to see y**

He deletes that.

**At least now I know you still like coffee haha okay so wh**

He deletes that too.

He carries on like that, for a while, before he manages to cobble together something even halfway acceptable.

**sure gon thatd be great! Let me know when ull be in town and we can make plans. Do you need me to recommend a coffee house? Alluka knows some good ones**

He jabs the little paper airplane icon with a thumb, _very decidedly_ not hesitating. There. That's done, then—well, not actually _done_ , because he's going to have to actually plan this out and go through with it and, and, everything. He's going to see Gon again, in a few short months, going to have coffee with him, and… it still seems a little surreal. But he just needs some time to get used to the idea, is all.

He wonders what Gon looks like. Maybe like his father, who Leorio always describes as "that short scruffy idiot," punctuated with a meaningful glare at his own fist (right about then, Killua always gets the feeling that Leorio would absolutely punch Ging a second time if given the chance). So, short. Killua wouldn't know; he's never actually seen Gon's father. But height, at least, is probably genetic—scruffiness is a matter of character, and Killua's pretty sure Mito-san raised Gon to have at least _some_ care for personal hygiene. Or… or maybe not. After all, it's not like there are five-star hotels in the wild, or wherever it is Gon has been. Maybe he'll be scruffy after all.

He's probably outgrown the green shorts-jacket combo from the best of Killua's memories. The thought is depressing, a source of grief even though he hasn't lost anything at all.

He wonders if Gon will recognize _him._ He's quite tall, now, broad-shouldered despite his own efforts to keep muscle concentrated in the places that matter. He's got those Zoldyck heir cheekbones, no matter how he'd tried to retain the layer of baby fat hiding them. At least his hair is pretty much the same (though he's grown two long curls out of his sideburns, sectioned them off with beads Alluka handmade to be just like her own; it's something to tie them together), though it got a little curlier after his teenage years. Alluka's going through the tail end of that right now herself, actually… and she still has the time and energy to help her brother get a coffee date with his old best friend.

Not that it's a date.

**Yay Killua!! Okay I should be back by new years and yes id love it if Alluka said a coffee place she likes! Looking forward to it and ill be in touch with more details soon :D its hard to make exact plans right now but I KNOW ill be back before new years that’s a PROMISE Killua!!! Cross my heart or ill eat a billion needles!**

A month goes by too quickly—and then it's two. Killua feels a little bit like he's falling in slow motion, like he should be doing something, but come to think of it there's not much to actually _do_ because Gon will be back when he's back and until then it's a waiting game. He relays the address of Alluka's preferred café, the grand victor of a coffee house gladiator tournament she enlisted absolutely everybody she knew to help with. It's her way of being involved, he supposes. It's nice.

Killua wonders if he _should_ be doing something after all, anything: preparing, somehow, though for what he isn't sure. He thinks briefly about getting back in touch with Kite, who knows a little something about playing second fiddle to a Freecss. It's fine, though. He can do this himself.

And suddenly it's the end of the year, and Killua is on his way to the café. He's got his stupid sack of presents tucked under one arm, and he's trying to convince himself that his own red face he can in every window is just from the cold—even though he's not cold at all, because Alluka made sure he had a scarf and jacket before he left. He's early, because he was agonizing about when to leave for so long that his sister literally pushed him out the door.

Gon's already there, and he's—he's— _Gon._ He's perfect, older but still so vibrantly himself, his hair still grown into spikes (it looks to be a little shorter, but that makes sense). He sees Killua while he's still a hundred feet away and _oh,_ the _look_ on his face—there had been nothing to worry about, nothing _ever_ to worry about. Gon's smile lights up the whole café, like seeing Killua is the best thing that's ever happened to him. He stands up, starts running for Killua because of course he does, this is Gon, of _course_ he'd want to barrel into his best friend at full speed. There's no longer any doubt of that—that he's still Gon's best friend—in Killua's heart, and he's ashamed there ever had been but it really doesn't matter anymore, does it? Gon is _here._

And he really _is_ running at full speed (and he really _is_ short), one end the light blue scarf he's wearing trailing out behind him like a banner. Killua swears and drops the bag, opening his arms just in time to sweep Gon into a bone-crushing hug. Gon is laughing, _Killua_ is laughing, they're both here and they're both laughing and everything's—not exactly how it was, no. They're both older, different in meaningful ways, but more important than any of that is that they're still best friends.

"Hey, Killua. You smell good."

"I see you're still a weirdo. I missed you too, idiot."

Gon laughs again, breathless not from the cold or the run but because it's true, he missed Killua so much. He disentangles himself from the hug and turns back toward the café, reaching down to take one of Killua's hands like it's the most natural thing in the world to do, and it _is._ It feels perfect. Killua bends to pick up his bag, then leans into Gon as they walk.

Gon eyes the bag and grins. "I got you some stuff, too, Killua. It's actually mostly snacks—you still like candy, don't you?" The way he's speaking, light and easy, Killua knows Gon wouldn't care if he said he hated candy. He's just happy to be here, as is Killua.

"Of course I still like candy, Gon! But you'd better try and keep it away from me for now, or else I won't have room for the coffee."

" _Try_ to keep it away from you? Is that a challenge?"

"Not till we've had coffee, idiot. You can tell me all the shit you've been up to, yeah?"

"Sure!"

They sit down, and they are _happy._


End file.
